Shaiya Mage Skill Guide
I’ll be completely honest here. I’ve followed the two guides that are stickied here in the Mage help forums when I was a Normal mode Mage. Although I really appreciated the info they gave me, I ended up with more than 2 hotkey bars of skills — some of which are semi-useless due to higher level skills making them not worthy of using. Also they did not explain why they chose those skills in enough detail.
I don’t know about you, but I prefer my 2 bars of skills instead of trying to juggle them with the limited hotkey bar arrow function (would have been nice if those arrows can be triggered by a key).
Out of courtesy, I decided to write a guide to a more rational approach to selecting skills so that you will not waste any points. This guide is focused on recommending skills for all kinds of Mages with an edge on PvP worthy skills.
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Passive Skills
Dagger Weapon Power Up 
COMMENTS>> It’s been proven that daggers are have a 2 rank faster delay between casts than that of a regular staff. In level 3 this ability adds +20 damage to your weapon’s attack damage.
RECOMMENDATION>> In Normal mode you might not have enough skills to max this, but if you follow my guide, you should. It’s up to you to take this in Normal mode, depends how well you like the faster delay over the less INT modifier of the dagger.
In Hard mode+, in my opinion this upgrade is a must since you won’t suffer much from the less INT that daggers give. Once you max this, daggers should have about the same attack damage as that of a staff of the same level.
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Mana Training 
COMMENTS>> Every bit of mana helps, you won’t have to rest so often and this is like adding HP if you use Health Assistant LV2.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
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Relax Body 
COMMENTS>> While you sit or idling around with bless, you will regenerate HP MP SP depending on this ability. Saves a lot of time.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
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Backpack Upgrade 
COMMENTS>> For longer grinding before you need to head back to town to re-pot or sell/store your junk.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
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Interpretation 
COMMENTS>> For understanding the other side’s chat. This is a great ability to have in PvP if you are a leader of your party. You can sometimes gather info about what they are planning on and intercept it. Otherwise it’s just a fun skill to have if you like to chat or hear your enemies.
RECOMMENDATION>> Up to you. Max if you have additional points left over.
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Basic Skills
Magic Ball 
COMMENTS>> Your fundamental attacking ability.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
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Body Protector 
COMMENTS>> It’s a good buff that is essential for every Mage due to the low defense that we get.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
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Fireball 
COMMENTS>> Magic Missile out damages this ability due to the instant cast it gets at level 3. This ability is only better for fighting monsters with the Wind element. Note that all mages will get another fire ability called Hellfire which does an amazing amount of damage, is spammable, and a cast time of only 2 seconds at level 3 despite the huge mana cost.
RECOMMENDATION>> It’s either this or Hellfire. Pick only one or none at all. Be aware of the high skill point cost of Hellfire though, it’s more than twice that of this spell.
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Spread Roots 
COMMENTS>> Awesome PvP and soloing skill that disables movement of your target for 7 seconds in level 3.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
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Sonic Bolt 
COMMENTS>> Instant cast single target with better damage than Magic Missile and an element attack.
RECOMMENDATION>> Not too important but for level 15 or 30 PvP you should Max this. In higher levels this isn’t anything too special.
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Mana Leakage 
COMMENTS>> This skill is only useful when you’re dueling a Mage or Priest and they use Health Assistant LV2+. Not really worth it though since level 3 only does 960 mana over 30 seconds and considering the fact that they can just use a MP potion.
RECOMMENDATION>> Skip.
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Combat Skills
Fire Thorn 
COMMENTS>> Buff that deals 65 damage to every mob around you per turn at level 3.
RECOMMENDATION>> For INT/LUC mages who think they will have plenty of points left over, get level 1 if you like to farm Gold Abels since the mobs won’t auto-aggro unless you turn this on. Max it if you prefer solo over AOE parties and the monsters are coming within your reach too often. Max this if you are a REC based mage. I skipped this to save a hotkey slot and points.
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Fire Bush 
COMMENTS>> A very worthy skill to have when you are AOE’ing with a Defender at monsters that are taking low damage from your normal spells. Since it is a preset damage spell, it does not depend on your stats. Also it’s great for dealing with Assassin/Rangers in PvP when they stealth. You’d feel more vunerable when facing them if you don’t have this skill.
RECOMMENDATION>> Non-PvPers: Max. PvPers: Max for 15, 30 PvP or Skip to save for Confusion.
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Storm 
COMMENTS>> Your basic Wind AOE spell and the only one that you can spam – others are instant casts.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
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Rock Mountain 
COMMENTS>> Cool Earth spell that changes animation to huge golden rocks at level 3 with only 2.5 sec casting time compared to most others with 3 sec. At Level 3 it deals 305 additional damage. This does not inflict the "Stun" status on bosses and mini-bosses.
RECOMMENDATION>> Up to you. If you do pick this, then skip Earthquake and consider whether you should take Earth Spikes because at Level 3 it’s only about 360 damage higher than this spell for about 3x more skill points and mana costs.
Rock Mountain
PRO: The shortest casting spell of all the Earth AOEs. Coolest animation of all 3 in my opinion. CON: Slightly low damage output.
Earthquake
PRO: Moderate damage of the three, the average joe. CON: Not much, it’s quite decent despite the 3 second cast.
Earth Spikes
PRO: Best damage, and the unconsious status which completely freezes an opponent. CON: Very high mana costs and skill points.
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Stamina Slug 
COMMENTS>> You have to be in melee range to use this with a 75% chance of success. Great for PvP against Warriors/Fighters just after they use Stinger to break their Stinger>Spin combo. Not so much on Assassin/Rangers since they have a lot of Dex for their SP. Level 3 drains away 1100 SP so it’s not too bad.
RECOMMENDATION>> It’s a tough call because this skill is only decent vs Warrior/Fighters. Probably skip but if you’re finding yourself getting beaten by them too often then maybe get it.
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Sustain Doom 
COMMENTS>> At level 3 it does 2100 damage over 18 seconds but please note the 17m range you have to be in. This is fixed damage so it’s awesome if you are a REC mage, early LUC mage or a Normal mode with not that much damage output. Great for soloing and killing orange+ colour mobs. The condition inflicted is "Dying" and Priests with a level 3 Dispel can remove this. Like the Archer skills such as Nailed Shot or Sustain Shot, this ability can reveal Rangers/Assassins if they are hurt by it during Stealth.
RECOMMENDATION>> For Normal modes, Max. For Hard mode+ it’s up to you because when you’re very high level you can probably do about 2000 damage in a single hit anyway. However, before you can deal that much damage, it’s a very worthy skill to have and it also costs a trivial amount of skill points – 9 points in total for Level 3. For Ultimate modes with full offensive stats like INT or LUC, I’d say Skip this because of your high damage output.
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Meteor 
COMMENTS>> It’s a decent AOE spell but semi-useless considering you can just use Wind attacks vs Wind mobs and Earth attacks vs Fire mobs (the only uses of this spell would be to AOE Wind mobs and Fire ones). At Level 3 it deals an additional fixed 152 damage over 12 seconds so it’s quite a good ability to have if you’re a REC mage.
RECOMMENDATION>> For PvPers, Skip to save points and a hotkey slot. For REC mages and for those who just want to level you might want to consider this spell for the fixed damage over time and the advantage it has to AOE Wind monsters.
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Lightning 
COMMENTS>> Instant cast AOE Wind spell that deals a good amount of damage. One of the must-haves for PvP and grinding.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
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Earthquake 
COMMENTS>> At Level 3 it deals 455 additional damage and its AOE increases to 14 meters like Rock Mountain. This does not inflict the "Stun" status on bosses and mini-bosses.
RECOMMENDATION>> Up to you. If you do pick this, then skip Rock Mountain and consider whether you should take Earth Spikes because at Level 3 it’s only about 100 damage higher than this spell for about 2x more skill points and mana costs.
Rock Mountain
PRO: The shortest casting spell of all the Earth AOEs. Coolest animation of all 3 in my opinion. CON: Slightly low damage output.
Earthquake
PRO: Moderate damage of the three, the average joe. CON: Not much, it’s quite decent despite the 3 second cast.
Earth Spikes
PRO: Best damage, and the unconsious status which completely freezes an opponent. CON: Very high mana costs and skill points.
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Flame Choir (Hard mode) 
COMMENTS>> Elemental single target attack which deals a tremendous amount of damage and a 5 minute recharge. Great for PvP, soloing and boss fights. Cast time decreases by 0.5 each level from 4 seconds at Level 1 to 2.5 at Level 3.
RECOMMENDATION>> Recharge is very long so you should max each Choir skill so that they can be used in succession against bosses or in PvP.
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Storm Choir (Hard mode) 
COMMENTS>> Elemental single target attack which deals a tremendous amount of damage and a 5 minute recharge. Great for PvP, soloing and boss fights. Cast time decreases by 0.5 each level from 4 seconds at Level 1 to 2.5 at Level 3.
RECOMMENDATION>> Recharge is very long so you should max each Choir skill so that they can be used in succession against bosses or in PvP.
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Earth Choir (Hard mode) 
COMMENTS>> Coolest animation of the three Choirs in my opinion. Elemental single target attack which deals a tremendous amount of damage and a 5 minute recharge. Great for PvP, soloing and boss fights. Cast time decreases by 0.5 each level from 4 seconds at Level 1 to 2.5 at Level 3.
RECOMMENDATION>> Recharge is very long so you should max each Choir skill so that they can be used in succession against bosses or in PvP.
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Nemesis (Ultimate mode) 
COMMENTS>> The signature spell of the Ultimate mage. Single target instant cast skill which deals a great amount of fixed damage with a 85% chance to succeed. At Level 3 it deals 1936 fixed damage. It’s devastating when used in conjunction with Potential Motive.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
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Special Skills
Support Spell 
COMMENTS>> Essential buff which raises your magic attack damage quite a bit and adds to the mana regeneration when you sit or idle with bless.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
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Attribute Remove 
COMMENTS>> Not really for PvP but it’s an excellent skill to have when you’re grinding or taking on a boss – especially those with the Fire element since we do not have any Water spells and Wind is weak against them. At level 2 it removes attributes in a 10m AOE at a 80% success rate on each mob caught in the AOE.
Attribute remove can remove the element from a player if they have elemental lapis on their armors.RECOMMENDATION>> Max if you want to grind faster. This skill only has limited use in PvP – you would only use this against people who you know have used an Elemental lapis on their armor.
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Potential Motive 
COMMENTS>> One of the best "Potential" skills in the game for PvP. When triggered, immediately use a Supin or Health potion, activate Health Assistant to provide you more survivability, and spam deadly instant cast spells such as Turbulance (or if you’re Ultimate mode use Nemesis) to your hearts content. Out of PvP though, it does not have much uses because once you are low on health it isn’t really worth it on potions to spam high damage instant cast spells.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max if you’re into PvP. Take level 1 if you’re not, it will only cost 1 skill point and can be handy at times.
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Diversion 
COMMENTS>> Yay for free mana! In PvP, once you are using Health Assistant Level 2+, you can throw this into the mix to restore your mana – after all Mana and Supin potions have a cooldown. Take note of its 600 second recharge though. Does not work in conjunction with Potential Motive.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max if you’re into PvP. Up to you if you’re not.
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Health Assistant 
COMMENTS>> One of the best buffs in the game which diverts damage to SP and MP depending on level of skill. Level one (which takes SP before your HP) isn’t anything close to noteworthy but level 2 (which takes MP before your HP) is another story. This ability basically shields you from damage depending on your mana capacity.
RECOMMENDATION>> Level 2. Level 3 just adds the SP into the equation in addition to MP – not worth the 6 skill points.
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Turbulance 
COMMENTS>> This ability defines us as Mages. This is our highest attack AOE that’s also instant cast despite the 30 second recharge time. Changes animation to cool red gales at Level 3.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
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Earth Spikes 
COMMENTS>> The highest damage spammable AOE we have. It’s a great supporting skill in PvP for when your party members are under attack if you can pull off the 3 second casting time. Also when you’re AOEing with a Defender using this skill may help him to pull more monsters or stay alive better – though it’s also possible with other Earth AOEs if you tell him to move a little after you cast Earth. Getting this skill simply for higher attack damage purposes might not be worth it due to the high skill point costs and the fact that it’s just slightly higher damage than the other Earth AOEs.
RECOMMENDATION>> Up to you due to the high skill point and mana costs. Personally I would skip this if you got the other Earth AOEs since the stun duration is the same (using it in PvP is mostly for chasing after people). But if you find yourself playing the support a lot in your parties then I would get at least level 1.
Rock Mountain
PRO: The shortest casting spell of all the Earth AOEs. Coolest animation of all 3 in my opinion. CON: Slightly low damage output.
Earthquake
PRO: Moderate damage of the three, the average joe. CON: Not much, it’s quite decent despite the 3 second cast.
Earth Spikes
PRO: Best damage, and the unconsious status which completely freezes an opponent. CON: Very high mana costs and skill points.
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Confusion 
COMMENTS>> This is probably the most interesting Mage PvP skill. Many people think it’s a stupid skill because it’s a self spell that takes 3 seconds to cast but have you thought about the potential? At Level 3 it deals your base magic damage and an additional 735 damage, and takes away 250 REC, WIS, and DEX from opponents that are 18m around yourself for 12 seconds. That’s kind of crazy considering with that many REC and WIS taken off you can probably finish a bunch of them off in a Turbulance and maybe Chain Lightning just after that. Also with that many DEX gone they would be easy targets for the Fighters, Archers and Rangers in your party, and they wouldn’t be able to hit them very well. The downside is trying to pull this spell off. Here are some possible scenarios in which you can use this in.
1. Charge in with your party and cast this.
2. Sneak up from behind when they are distracted and cast (Mage Assassin tactic hehe).
3. When they are attacking another person on your side and you think you can pull a 3 second casting time.
RECOMMENDATION>> This skill cost a lot of points just like Turbulance and can be used only sometimes. So if you’re a PvPer it’s a very noteworthy skill to have due to the incredible status debuff. You might want to skip some earlier skills such as Sonic Bolt and/or Fire Bush to save up for this. I’m not sure but I think this ability, like Fire Bush, can reveal Ranger/Assassins when they’re stealthed.
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Hellfire 
COMMENTS>> The best spammable single target ability for all Mages. At Level 3 it deals an amazing 1178 additional damage and burns your opponents for 594 damage over 18 seconds with only 2 second casting time. Each additional level up of this spell decreases its casting time by 0.5 seconds. Worth the high skill point cost.
RECOMMENDATION>> Max.
Hellfire is optional to max. Level 2 is more than enough for most mages, and level 3 does cost a lot of skill points. Level 1 is decent, but doesn’t cut it at higher level mobs.—————————————————
Flite 
COMMENTS>> I don’t really see the point of this spell. It does not affect monsters or bosses – only players. At Level 3 the status "Death" kills the inflicted in 1 minute instead of 5 minutes for Level 1. But honestly what’s the point in PvP if your enemy’s side happens to have a Priest/Oracle around who has Dispel Level 3? The only use would be in duels when you Flite someone and run around for a while with Health Assistant turned on.
Flite does NOT work on any mob whatsoever. It’s only use is in PvP, when you are facing a tank or other char which you cannot kill normally. It can fail even against other players. Lvl 1 is 5 minutes(not 3), lvl 2 is 3, and lvl 3 is 1. I would get it for PvP, because 1min is usually too fast for a priest to dispel if they’re distracted.RECOMMENDATION>> Skip this unless you’re a dedicated PvPer and want to try your luck at times when the battle is heating and people might be distracted enough not to notice Flite.
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Sow and Reap 
COMMENTS>> Drains all mana to deal 3x your magic damage and is able to make criticals. 65% success rate at Level 1 and 75% at Level 2 with a 15 minute recharge. My buddy Flinx_HM got this spell as a LUC mage and it seemed to always deal lower damage than her choirs (which were Level 2). I would not know about INT mages at the moment, and any information would be great.
RECOMMENDATION>> Skip if you are a LUC mage. Don’t know for INT mages yet.
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Kamain Breath 
COMMENTS>> I’ve seen on the CN Shaiya site describe it as doing your base magic damage plus an additional 2226 damage in a 14m radius with a 600 second recharge. On other guides here I see it taking away 87% of your opponents HP in a 15m radius. Not sure which one is right for this version of Shaiya, please confirm if you are a Level 60 Ultimate mode mage.
RECOMMENDATION>> Of course you would get this as a Ultimate mode mage. Looks to me like this ability is one of the main reasons why you would want to make an Ultimate mage. Total area of effect devastation. 
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Credits
KinkyKitty ; Me, my Hard mode Mage in the Light side.
Luck-Mage ; for some good information on skills and some advice.
Flinx_HM ; for testing out Sow & Reap as a LUC mage.
Cartographer ; for pointing out some mistakes and adding some constructive advice on skills.
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Credits go to lollykitty for putting this together!
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